Antivirus System and Method for Removable Media Devices

1. A system for providing antivirus protection in a removable media device, the system comprising: a removable media device, the removable media device comprising: software program stored thereon; and a connection portion for electronic connection with a host computing system, the host computing system comprising a removable media device receiving portion for receiving the connection portion in an operative electronic connection and a data storage device having stored thereon an antivirus program; wherein the software program stored on the removable media device comprises a communication module for communicating an electronic instruction to the antivirus program stored on the data storage device of the host computing system, the electronic instruction directing the antivirus program to scan electronic files stored on, or being transmitted to or from, the removable media device; and wherein the removable media device employs one or more of software encryption and hardware encryption and the software program provides for pre-processing of the electronic files by the antivirus program before or during such encryption.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the removable media device comprises a hardware encrypted drive for transporting and storing the electronic files.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the software program stored on the removable data storage device is configured to delete any of the electronic files that contain a virus after encryption thereof.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the communication module is configured to automatically communicate with the antivirus program upon operable connection of the removable media device with the host computing system, without intervention of a user of the host computing system.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the software program stored on the removable media device further comprises an updating module configured to determine currency of validation files associated with the antivirus program on the data storage device of the host computing system.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the updating module is further configured to establish an electronic connection, via a network, with a website of a provider of the antivirus program for downloading current validation files for the antivirus program on the data storage device of the host computing system.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the updating module is further configured to download the current antivirus validation files in response to a determination that the validation files associated with the antivirus program are not current on the data storage device of the host computing system.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the software program stored on the removable media device further comprises a virus scan blocking prevention module configured to detect an attempt to block the scanning of one or more of the electronic files.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the virus scan blocking prevention module is further configured to block the removable media device from being accessed if such an attempt is made by a virus to block the scanning of electronic files, thereby preventing transfer of said virus to or from the device.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the virus scan blocking prevention module is further configured to block the removable media device from being accessed if such an attempt is made by a user of the host computing system to block the scanning of electronic files by attempting to write a previously encrypted file that contains a virus to the removable media device.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein upon detection of such an attempt to block the scanning of electronic files, the virus scan blocking prevention module prevents data transfer to or from the removable media device.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the software program stored on the removable media device is configured to copy one or more electronic antivirus monitoring files to the host computing system.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the one or more electronic antivirus monitoring files are copied to a TEMP environment of the host computing system.

14. The system of claim 12 , wherein one of the one or more electronic antivirus monitoring files copied to the host computing system is launched and used to monitor and detect user or program operations intended to defeat, kill, or erase an antivirus functionality of the software program running from the removable media device.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein upon detection of such user or program operations the antivirus program functionality running from the removable media device is automatically restored to the removable media device, and, until the antivirus program functionality is automatically restored user operations to and from the removable media device are interrupted through issuance of operating system commands to block the removable media device from access.

16. The system of claim 1 , wherein the removable media device employs software encryption and the antivirus program scans the electronic files for viruses before software encryption thereof, and the antivirus program does not allow said electronic files to be encrypted when such files cannot be scanned.

17. The system of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the electronic files stored on, or being transmitted to or from the removable media device to the host computing system is scanned during a decrypt operation prior to writing said electronic file to the host computing system.

18. The system of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the electronic files stored on, or being transmitted to or from the removable media device to the host computing system cannot be scanned, and any such file is blocked from being decrypted.

19. A method for providing antivirus protection in the removable media device of claim 1 , the method comprising: sending the electronic instruction from the removable media device to the antivirus program of the host computing device in operative association with the removable media device to scan one or more of the electronic files to be transferred from the removable media device to the host computing device; and in response to an indication from the antivirus program that a virus has been detected in a virus-containing file of the one or more electronic files, blocking transfer of the virus-containing file to the removable media device or deleting the virus-containing file from the removable media device.

20. The method of claim 19 , further comprising providing the removable media device having stored thereon such a software program configured to electronically execute said sending of the electronic instruction and said blocking or deleting of the virus-containing file.

21. The method of claim 19 , further comprising executing the software program for checking currency of validation files associated with the antivirus program on the data storage device of the host computing system.

22. The method of claim 19 , further comprising initiating a download, via electronic network connection, of current validation files for the antivirus program, wherein the validation files associated with the antivirus program are not current.

23. The method of claim 19 , further comprising preventing file transfer from the removable media device in response to detecting an attempt to block antivirus program scanning of the one or more electronic files.

24. A removable media device comprising a system for providing antivirus protection in a removable media device, the system comprising: a software program stored on the removable media device and configured to communicate with an antivirus program of a host computing system with which the removable media device is associated; and a connection portion for electronic connection with a host computing system, the host computing system comprising a removable media device receiving portion for receiving the connection portion in an operative electronic connection and a data storage device having stored thereon an antivirus program, wherein, upon receiving a communication comprising an electronic instruction from the software program, the antivirus program scans one or more of electronic files stored on the removable media device and electronic files being transmitted to or from the electronic media device for the detection of viruses therein; wherein the software program stored on the removable media device comprises a communication module for communicating the electronic instruction to the antivirus program stored on the data storage device of the host computing system, the electronic instruction directing the antivirus program to scan the one or more electronic files stored on, or being transmitted to or from, the removable media device; and wherein the removable media device employs one or more of software encryption and hardware encryption and the software program provides for pre-processing of the electronic files by the antivirus program before or during such encryption.

25. The removable media device of claim 19 , wherein the software program is configured to block transfer to or from the removable media device of virus-containing electronic files detected in scanning the one or more electronic files.

26. The removable media device of claim 19 , wherein the connection portion comprises a USB connector for mating with a USB slot of the host computing device, the removable media device being a USB device.